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Security guard trying to help 2 women shoots man outside Charlotte motel

By Elsa Gillis
By Elsa Gillis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police are investigating after they said a security guard shot a man at a north Charlotte motel overnight.

[IMAGES: Security guard shoots man outside Charlotte motel]

Investigators told Eyewitness News that two women asked a security guard for help after they said a man assaulted them inside one of the motel rooms.

Officers were called to the Travel Inn on Reagan Drive just after 1 a.m. after they said the security guard confronted the man in question in the parking lot, but that led to a fight between the two men, resulting in the security guard shooting the man.

That man was taken Carolinas Medical Center with serious injuries.

Channel 9 was the first station on the scene and could see crime tape up throughout the back parking lot of the motel as detectives collected evidence and spoke with witnesses.

Police have not said whether the guard will face charges, or if the man who was shot will be charged for the alleged assault.

According to his employer, the security guard is currently registered, as required, as an armed guard with the state's Private Protective Services Board with the gun he used Friday morning.

He could still face charges.

"A security guard in North Carolina has no other powers than a normal citizen, other than he has received training in the use of deadly force," retired police supervisor and PPSB member Bud Cesena said. "Was someone in imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death? Those are the questions that the (district attorney’s) office will have to make a decision on."

The area is a spot police have been targeting to prevent violent crime.

Sugar Creek Road and Interstate 85 have seen a lot criminal activity, much of it within the past eight months.

In May, police were investigating a homicide at the motel. Bobby Wesley was shot and killed inside one of the rooms.

About a month later, police said a 16-year-old was involved in Wesley's death and the teen is facing several charges, including armed robbery.

In January, a 14-year-old boy and a Liberian store owner were killed in the North Tryon Division.

[READ MORE: CMPD focuses on crime hotspots by expanding 'Operation Avalanche']

Shortly afterward, CMPD launched "Operation Avalanche" to help prevent more violent crime from happening. They pulled in extra officers to the North Tryon Division in an effort to increase their presence in the area.

Police can't do it all though, especially when it comes to the motel, which Channel 9 found out had been violating a court order this year. Authorities said the motel knowingly allows crimes like drug activity and prostitution to take place on the property.

That case will be in court next month.

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

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